The present invention relates generally to social network analysis, and more particularly to selecting strangers for information spreading on a social network.
Social networks are more and more widely used for information sharing and exchange. Hundreds of millions of messages are posted on social networks daily. Due to widespread usage and growing number of users of social networks and due to businesses around social networks, there are enormous interests in modeling behaviors of the users of social networks. Such models benefit a number of objectives, such as viral marketing, spreading messages for social or political reasons, and protecting certain populations and organizations. Many models focus on macro levels of social networks rather than an individual's characteristics; the models don't describe how strangers in social networks spread information when asked by another stranger or strangers in social networks.